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Hollett wins title in front of home fans

Raucous and loud hometown boxing fans got their money's worth - and then some - witnessing the crowning of a new City Boxing junior light middleweight champion last Saturday night at the Gibsons Curling Club.

Raucous and loud hometown boxing fans got their money's worth - and then some - witnessing the crowning of a new City Boxing junior light middleweight champion last Saturday night at the Gibsons Curling Club.

Randy Hollett from the Sunshine Coast Boxing Club (SCBC) defeated David Rojo of the Pack of Wild Dogs Boxing Club from Richmond in a split decision in the main event of the War on the Shore.

The fight was a fantastic culmination of an action-packed, 10-fight card.

The title fight was pretty even in the opening rounds with both fighters landing a lot of quality strikes.

Rojo is quite the showman in the ring, smiling and taunting Hollett in the second round, but by the mid-point of round three, Rojo wasn't smiling any more as he knew he was in front of a tough-as-nails competitor.

In the third round, Hollett worked well off his jab and started to attack from the inside, allowing him to gain the advantage. Hollett brought more of the same in the fourth and final round and with the crowd on its feet, Rojo raised Hollett's hand at the conclusion of the fight as the judges' cards were tabulated.

When ring announcer Barry Krangle announced Hollett as the winner, the place erupted again and Hollett was overcome with emotion as his wife and children joined him in the ring as he was presented with the championship belt.

After the fight, Hollett was still riding an emotional high. "It was pretty crazy. I'm glad the show went well. I enjoyed the crowd and I fed from it and just tried to do the best I could and look good doing it," Hollett said. "It's hard to explain what I'm feeling. I'll never forget this moment. I'm so glad that it happened at home, it's just an incredible feeling right now."

Hollett complemented Rojo saying he was a "super tough opponent."

"I had a game plan to try and work off my jab and as soon as he closed that distance I tried to throw my right hand, but that goes out the window when you get punched in the face," he said. "It was one of those fights that I couldn't lose, so I had to dig deep and just push forward."

The co-main event saw WBC Western Canadian 147-pound champion George Vourtsis tune up for his July Canadian championship fight with a decisive win over Andreii Zabrovskyi from the North Burnaby Boxing Club.

Vourtsis charged at the taller Zabrovskyi and battered the Russian pretty much from start to finish.

Vourtsis said it was amazing to fight in front of such a loud, hometown audience.

"It was awesome, it felt so good. We had such an amazing turnout - couldn't ask for anything better," he said. "I was looking to fight a taller opponent because a lot of guys in Ontario are pretty tall and that's who I will be going up against in July. They are really skilled, so I wanted to look to fight inside and make sure I didn't get caught with the long jabs. The idea is to take them out of their game plan and that's what I did today - I just pushed forward and it worked."

Vourtsis said he planned to take a few weeks off and then start fine-tuning for the July fight.

"We should know soon who my opponent will be, but it doesn't really matter, he is just another guy, that's how I look at it. Go and be in front of him and show him that I'm not backing down," he said.

Other Sunshine Coast fighters on the card included Ryan Babor against Cody Folden Edwards of Revelstoke won by Cody in a split decision and Beau Smith squaring off against Logan Wolff from the MadKatz Boxing Club in Kelowna. The fight was a public exhibition in which both fighters put on a good show.

Also on the card was fan favourite Marcus Baptiste, originally from Sechelt, now fighting with the Action Boxing Club in Vancouver squaring off against Jory Hoffrath from MadKatz.

This was another action-packed fight that ended in a draw.

SCBC founder Rick Shannon said he was elated by the evening.

"You dream of something working out this well and it's just not myself, but so many people put so much into this and to get two big wins - you couldn't have written a better script," he said. "The audience was amazing and the energy in the room - that's what is great about boxing is the energy that develops."

Shannon said he was impressed by the out-of-town fighters, the quality of the fights and the sportsmanship that was shown by all the fighters and coaches.

"David Rojo is such a competitor in the ring and that was a great fight between him and Randy," Shannon said. "Both George and Randy are so dedicated to this and they succeed because of it. What a story for Randy, just a genuine nice guy. He's worked so hard for this, so for him to win the title is something special. George is a good family man, a businessman, and a hard-working guy who has found boxing to be his sporting life. His guts, his effort and his backbone - just a total warrior."

Shannon also was proud of his other young fighters.

"Beau is a very calm kid and acquitted himself well and Ryan didn't box up to his abilities. He is very skilled, but he just tried to bomb the kid out and he forgot all the skills he has," added Shannon. "But he won't get discouraged. He's going to come back and learn from this - he's a smart kid."